WordPress has just announced that it will now accept bitcoins, the online distributed currency, as a form of payment for services on the blogging platform. WordPress is a free and open source blogging platform, but Automattic, the company of web develops and web programmers, offers paid-for features including hosted versions of the blog, themes, custom domains, and anti-spam software.
Automattic hopes that by accepting bitcoins they will make it easier for bloggers that live in countries that are not supported by PayPal or by credit card providers.
A spokesman for the company said “Whatever the reason, we don’t think an individual from Haiti, Ethiopia, or Kenya should have diminished access to the blogosphere because of payment issues they can’t control. Our goal is to enable people, not block them.”
Bitcoin is an electronic currency which is based on a complex cryptographic system. Bitcoins are entirely virtual, and are stored on the owner’s computer. The currency is popular with privacy advocates because the currency is decentralized and untraceable. It is also popular with merchants because there is no chargeback system, so it is harder for consumers to commit fraudulent transactions.
The value of a bitcoin is not fixed, and since the inception of the currency the value has fluctuated rapidly since the currency was released. Presently, a bitcoin is worth just over $11. Most transactions involve fractions of a coin, known as bitcents, rather than multiples.
Bitcoins are stored on the owner’s computer, in a special file known as a wallet. If this file is lost or deleted, the bitcoins will be lost. This has led to some hackers developing trojans and virii that target the wallet file. Some high value wallet thefts have occurred in the last couple of years, shaking mainstream confidence in this new currency.
